Portland Timbers Partner With Sparta Science to Help Prevent Injuries

Over the past two years, the Portland Timbers have suffered hamstring injuries at every position on the field: forward Fanendo Adi, midfielder David Guzman, defender Vytas Andriuškevičius, and goalkeepers Jeff Attinella and Kendall McIntosh.

Hamstring tears are not uncommon in the sport, however, and injury prevention is a primary motivation for the Timbers’ partnership with Sparta Science, a force plate-based performance analytics company. Sparta’s force plate can record 3,000 data points per second, and uses that information to create each athlete’s Movement Signature. Portland began using Sparta Science prior to its 2018 MLS Western Conference championship season.

“Hamstrings continue to be the most common injury in soccer because of the high amounts ...